Highland Leaves Rivals In Retreat

Highland Retreat gained the biggest success of her short career in the valuable Grade 2 OLBG.com Mares’ Hurdle at Ascot on Saturday.

She has been a fabulous standard bearer for the yard this season and showed great courage and tenacity to hold off Carole’s Spirit in the closing stages.

All the rain that has fallen in the past week was to her advantage. Highland Retreat can’t really have the ground too deep so Cheltenham is not really in our thoughts for her at the moment, unless the going came up very soft at the Festival. She stays three miles well and Noel Fehilly thinks she has the necessary speed if we step back in trip with her, but she had a hard race at Ascot and deserves a short break now.

Further ahead we are looking forward to running her over fences next season.

Highland Retreat is yet another fine advertisement for the keen eye of her owner, my landlord, Richard Barber who bought her cheaply as a youngster at the Doncaster sales.